Intro:

Kernel News: Mat

Release Candidate:
On Fri, 16 Nov 2012 18:12:42 PST
Linus Torvalds released kernel 3.7-rc6
This is what he had to say about it:

“Slightly less than a week, but since I’m leaving for vacation tomorrow, here it is.
…

So we’ve got some arch updates (mainly mips and unicore32, with a smattering of arm[64] and s390) and driver changes (sound, net, usb). Along with some networking and mm fixes.

…

I’ll have a laptop with me as I’m away, but if things calm down even further, I’ll be happy. I’ll do an -rc7, but considering how calm things have been, I suspect that’s the last -rc. Unless something dramatic happens.

“I’ve been spending time this week reading specifications written for BIOS developers. And in doing so, I think I’ve found a group of developers that even BIOS developers hate, Windows developers. The number of workarounds that are recommended just to keep Windows from causing a BSOD is astounding.

Distro Talk: Tony

2012-11-12 Distribution Release: ROSA 2012 “Enterprise Linux Server”
Konstantin Kochereshkin has announced the release of ROSA 2012 “Enterprise Linux Server”, a server distribution based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux: “The ROSA team is happy to announce ROSA Enterprise Linux Server (RELS) ‘Helium’ 2012 server operating system. RELS 2012 is based on a combination of a package base from Red Hat, the world leader in the server operating system market, modern open technologies from upstream and brand-name ROSA tools and applications. This allows to achieve binary-level compatibility with popular enterprise applications and at the same time extend the system functionality, e.g., for easier integration with existing corporate networks, visual server configuration and management, etc.” Read the rest of the release announcement for features, technical specifications and other information. Download: ROSA-Server-2012-i386-DVD.iso (2,456MB, SHA256, torrent), ROSA-Server-2012-x86_64-DVD.iso (3,293MB, SHA256, torrent).

2012-11-13 Distribution Release: Tails 0.14
Tails 0.14 has been released. Tails is a Debian-based live system with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the user. From the release announcement: “Tails (The Amnesic Incognito Live System) version 0.14 is out. All users must upgrade as soon as possible. Notable user-visible changes include: Tor upgrade to 0.2.3.24-rc, enable stream isolation; upgrade Iceweasel to 10.0.10esr, with anonymity enhancing patches from the TorBrowser applied; fix Iceweasel’s file associations No longer should you be prompted to open a PDF in the GIMP; hardware support – upgrade Linux kernel to 3.2.32, support more than 4 GB of RAM, support more than one CPU core; fix memory wiping at shutdown; gpgApplet can now handle public key cryptography; add a persistence preset for NetworkManager connections; better support setting up persistence on large USB sticks….” Download link: tails-i386-0.14.iso (817MB).

2012-11-13 Distribution Release: Peppermint OS Three-20121105
Kendall Weaver has announced the release of an updated build of Peppermint OS Three, a lightweight Linux distribution with Openbox, based on Ubuntu 12.04: “We’re proud and happy to announce the first re-spin of Peppermint Three in both 32-bit and 64-bit editions. The downloads are live now via our standard download links and are also available for purchase in both CD and USB format. The re-spins offer a fully updated install as of November 5th, 2012, so you aren’t left needing to download hundreds of megabytes of updates immediately after the install. In addition, we changed the desktop notifications back to the way they were in Peppermint Two after several users noted that the way they were implemented in Three seemed to be a bit of a step backward compared to the previous iterations. For users already running Three that also want this, it’s actually quite simple: simply install the packages ‘notify-osd’ and ‘notify-osd-icons’.” Continue reading the release announcement for further details. Download (MD5): Peppermint-3-20121105-i386.iso (536MB), Peppermint-3-20121105-amd64.iso (542MB).

2012-11-13 Distribution Release: Parsix GNU/Linux 4.0
Alan Baghumian has announced the release of Parsix GNU/Linux 4.0, a desktop Linux distribution with GNOME Shell, based on Debian’s ‘testing’ branch: “Parsix GNU/Linux 4.0 (code name ‘Gloria’) brings tons of updated packages, faster live boot, improved installer system and quality new features. This version has been synchronized with Debian testing repositories as of November 7, 2012 and brings lot of updated packages compared to Parsix 3.7. Parsix Gloria is the project’s first release with the GNOME 3 series and it ships with LibreOffice productivity suit by default. Gloria has a brand-new software manager package. Highlights: GNOME 3.4.2, X.Org 7.7, GRUB 2, GNU Iceweasel 16.0.2, GParted 0.12.1, Empathy 3.4.2.3, LibreOffice 3.5.4, VirtualBox 4.1.18 and a brand-new kernel based on Linux 3.2.28 with TuxOnIce, BFS and other extra patches. The live DVD has been compressed using Squashfs and xz.” See the detailed release notes for more information. Download: parsix_4.0r0-i386.iso (1,030MB, MD5), parsix_4.0r0-amd64.iso (1,027MB, MD5).

2012-11-15 Distribution Release: Dream Studio 12.04.1
Dick MacInnis has announced the release of Dream Studio 12.04.1, an Ubuntu-based distribution featuring a collection of open-source applications for creating graphics, videos, music and websites: “Dream Studio 12.04.1 has been officially released. New features include: upgraded base system, based on the Ubuntu 12.04.1 install disc; many upgraded packages, such as Ardour, Blender, and GIMP; the Dream Studio audio indicator by default, instead of QJackctl; the addition of a hardware-specific software installer for some audio hardware; the addition of all the KXStudio repositories; the addition of slowmovideo by default, as well as a new graphics repository; many, many, small tweaks and performance upgrades. This is the latest release in the 12.04 series for Dream Studio. Any current 12.04 users will be upgraded automatically.” Here is the brief release announcement. Download the live DVD images from here: DreamStudio-12.04.1-i386.iso (2,460MB, torrent), DreamStudio-12.04.1-amd64.iso (2,391MB, torrent).

2012-11-17 Distribution Release: GALPon MiniNo 2.0
Miguel Anxo Bouzada has announced the release of GALPon MiniNo 2.0, a Debian-based distributions for legacy computers – the ones made twelve (or more) years ago: “On 16 November 2002 the Pontevedra Linux Users Group, Grupo de Amigos Linux de Pontevedra ‘GALPon’, was formed in Vigo, a city in the province of Pontevedra, in Galicia in north-west Spain; its objective was to promote the use of GNU/Linux and free software in general, while offering a meeting point for all enthusiasts for this software. Today, 10 years later, to commemorate that day, we are releasing the latest version of our ‘distro’ GALPon MiniNo v_2.0 aka ‘Ártabros’ and we are launching this new website which we hope will be more user friendly than the earlier one. It is our hope that this latest version of GALPon MiniNo will be useful and we look forward to your continuing support and your suggestions for further enhancements.” Visit the distribution’s news page to read the brief release announcement. Download: minino-artabros-2.0.iso (644MB, MD5).

2012-11-17 Distribution Release: Canaima GNU/Linux 3.1
Canaima GNU/Linux is a Debian-based desktop Linux distribution from Venezuela. An updated build, version 3.1 based on “Squeeze”, was released a couple of days ago. According to the project’s website, the distribution is built in the spirit of social and technological policies leading to increased knowledge, innovation and technological independence in Venezuela and is meant for use in government organisations and communities of users. Some of the changes in this release include: software updates to LibreOffice 3.4, Cunaguaro 8.0 web browser with complete support for HTML 5, Turpial 1.6.6, Amigu 0.7.2; new applications, such as Ucumari – a control centre based on Ailurus Centro, Canaima Instalador – a new system installer written in Python…. Read the release announcement and also the detailed release notes (both links in Spanish) for further information. Download links: canaima-popular-3.1~estable_i386.iso (672MB, MD5), canaima-popular-3.1~estable_amd64.iso (696MB, MD5).

2012-11-17 Distribution Release: Kwort Linux 3.5
David Cortarello has announced the release of Kwort Linux 3.5, lightweight distribution based on CRUX with a custom package management tool: “Finally Kwort Linux 3.5 has arrived. We have been testing this release for a month and it needed just one public release candidate to get a known bug-free system. Those who installed RC1 can upgrade to the final version with kpkg. In this version our system received a complete update, from the toolchain to the latest X11 applications. This might be the last i686 version as we are planning to move to x86_64 for our next release. We are rolling this release with Linux kernel 3.5.4, the latest stable version of Chromium (Firefox is available on the CD image in more/xapps). The latest LibreOffice is also available on the CD image for you to install with kpkg. Most noticeable changes are in the installer and kpkg, as both got a speed up and also I gave kpkg the ability to upgrade a single package or the whole system.” Visit the project’s home page to read the complete release announcement. Download: kwort-3.5.iso (337MB, MD5).

2012-11-18 Distribution Release: Manjaro Linux 0.8.2 “LXDE”
Philip Müller has announced the release of Manjaro Linux 0.8.2 “LXDE” edition, an lightweight desktop distribution based on Arch Linux: “The culmination of substantial refinements and exciting new developments, Manjaro 0.8.2 is the most polished, feature-rich, and accessible release yet. A lot of people asked me for a LXDE edition. Here it is. It has the same look and functionality as our Xfce edition. With this release you get a better EFI-support through rEFInd, it includes support for Steam gaming, automatic desktop notifications for new system updates, and — developed exclusively for Manjaro — a user-friendly graphical interface to easily manage and maintain the system. A more detailed overview of the improvements in the 0.8.2 release is as follows: the default Linux kernel series has been changed to 3.4-longterm for better upstream support; LXDE got updated to 0.5.5….” Read the full release announcement for more details, screenshot and a link to the changelog. Download (SHA256): manjaro-lxde-0.8.2-i686.iso (1,095MB), manjaro-lxde-0.8.2-x86_64.iso (1,253MB).

Distro of the Week: Tony

elementary – 1368

Fedora – 1398

Ubuntu – 1705

Mageia – 2722

Mint – 4984

Tech News:

Time: 08:29

FreeBSD Compromised

On 11/11/2012, the FreeBSD.org cluster was discovered to have been compromised. The two affected machines were immediately taken offline for analysis. Also a large number of additional machines in the cluster were taken down as a precaution.

After a detailed investigation they found no indication that any packages were compromised, putting an end user at risk. They are recommending that all concerned parties read the full report at http://www.freebsd.org/news/2012-compromise.html. That page will be updated as more information becomes available. The FreeBSD base system was never at risk. Only third party packages were possibly compromised.

A developer with legitimate access had his SSH key taken. This breach was not due to a vulnerability or exploit in FreeBSD. If your systems third-party packages were not installed or updated between 9/19/2012 and 11/11/2012. Then you have no reason for concern. Unfortunately the integrity of any third party packages available for installation between 9/19/2012 and 11/11/2012, or of any ports compiled from trees obtained via any means other than through svn.freebsd.org or one of its mirrors, is unsure. There is no evidence to suggest any tampering took place and we believe such interference is unlikely. As a precaution however we have to recommend you consider reinstalling any machine from scratch, using trusted sources.

Red Hat Developer Calls Foul On Rising Tide Developer

Andy Grover, a Red Hat SCSI target engineer, has made a request on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML) for Nicholas A. Bellinger, the Linux SCSI target maintainer, provide proof of infringement of the GPL. Let’s just call them Nick and Andy, Nick is a developer at Rising Tide and Andy is developer at Red Hat. Andy’s first post on the LKML, Andy mentions that he’s had no response from from Nick and the Rising Tide Systems CEO wich forced him to bring this serious issue up on the LKML. Andy has demanded the source code for supporting the EXTENDED_COPY SCSI command by the terms of the GPL. This is a particularly challenging question to answer. If RTS’s version of the source code was separate all along, even though both projects were managed by Nick, then RTS has no requirement to give the new code to Linux. Lawyers are already involved, and RTS’s lawyer has responded on the LKML thread.